Category Archives: Free Jazz

OSC Meets BMC-Freak Out In The Fjord. Label: Space Rock Productions. Some seven years ago, brothers Øyvin and Vemund Engan founded the psychedelic space rock band Black Moon Circle, and since then, this talented band from Trondheim, in Norway, have released six albums. Six became seven when Black Moon Circle and Øresund Space Collective released their first collaboration …

Ornette Coleman’s Atlantic Years. Just under four years ago, on June 11th 2015, that Ornette Coleman passed away, aged eighty-five. Music had lost a true legend, whose album Free Jazz: A Collective Improvisation lent its name to a musical genre, free jazz. It’s the genre that Ornette Coleman became synonymous with. However, two years earlier, …

Øyvind Torvund-The Exotica Album. Label: Hubro Music. With some albums, nothing is as at seems as a myriad of disparate sounds assail the listener leaving them wondering what was that I heard? It was, wasn’t it? Surely not? It was. This argument rages on as they contemplate the music that they’ve just heard. That is …

Dr John-The Atco Years 1968-1974. Gris Gris. When a copy of Dr John’s debut album Gris Gris was sent to Atlantic Records’ founder Ahmet Ertegun he disliked the album so much, that he was reluctant to even release the album and said: “how can we market this boogaloo crap?” This wasn’t the response that Dr …

Maja S. K. Ratkje-Sult. Rune Grammofon. By the time Maja S. K. Ratkje graduated from the Norwegian Academy of Music in 2000, the twenty-seven year old had already won one of the most prestigious awards in Norwegian music, an Edvardprisen. This came in 1999, when Waves 11b won an Edvardprisen in the contemporary music minor …

The Life and Music Of John Wetton. On the ’31st’ of January 2017, John Wetton passed away in Bournemouth, Dorset aged just sixty-seven. Music had lost another of its most talented and successful sons. John Wetton had enjoyed success with seven bands and as a solo artist. His career began with Mogul Thrash, before he joined Family, King Crimson, Uriah Heep and …

The Rise and Fall Of The Youngbloods By 1965, bassist and vocalist Jesse Colin Young was twenty-four and had already enjoyed a degree of success as a folk singer. He had already released two albums The Soul Of A City Boy in 1964, and Young Blood in 1965. However, Jesse Colin Young’s solo career was …

Motorpsycho-The Crucible. Label: Rune Grammofon and Stickman Records. Nowadays, not many bands stay together thirty years, but Motorpsycho who are one of Norway’s top bands have. They’re proof that longevity isn’t a thing of the past in the music business. Nor is releasing an album a year. That was common in the sixties and seventies, which for many people was …

Lonnie Liston Smith and The Cosmic Echoes-Their Finest Hour: The Flying Dutchman Years. Innovative, influential and way ahead of the musical curve, describes the music of Lonnie Liston Smith, and specially the music he recorded with The Cosmic Echoes at Bob Thiele’s Flying Dutchman Productions. It was home to some of the most innovative jazz musicians …

The Music Of Michael Rother Kosmische Pioneer. During the early seventies, the German music scene was thriving, and was one of the most vibrant in Europe. Some of the most influential and innovative music was being recorded and released by German bands. This included the holy trinity of Can, Kraftwerk and Neu!. Along with Amon Düül II, Ashra, …

The Life and Times Of Musical Maverick Holger Czukay. Although the word innovator is one of the most overused words in the English language nowadays, it perfectly describes Holger Czukay who cofounded Can in 1968. This was the start of a near fifty year career where Holger Czukay continued to make groundbreaking music, and push musical boundaries to their limits, and sometimes way …

The Inimitable Sun Ra, Innovator and Musical Pioneer. Nowadays, music journalists are guilty of using the words innovator and musical pioneer all too freely, but that is the perfect description of the inimitable Sun Ra. He’s now regarded as one of the true pioneers of free jazz and a truly innovative and influential musician who pushed musical …

Nat Birchall-Cosmic Language-Vinyl. Label: Jazzman Records. Manchester-based jazz saxophonist Nat Birchall has come a long way since releasing his debut album The Sixth Sense in January 1999, and nowadays, is regarded as one of the leading lights of the vibrant British jazz scene. Nat Birchall is also one of the most talented and inventive British …

A New Life Volume II-Vinyl. Label: Jazzman Records Three years ago in 2015, Jazzman Records released A New Life, their critically acclaimed compilation of British jazz. This is no ordinary jazz compilation though. Instead, A New Life featured tracks from private pressings and hidden gems released by independent labels. So successful was A New Life …

Venezuela 70 Volume 2: Cosmic Visions Of A Latin American Earth: Venezuelan Experimental Rock In The 1970s and Beyond-Vinyl. Label: Soul Jazz Records. During the seventies, Venezuela was one of the most prosperous countries in South America after oil was discovered in the North West of the country in 1914. Soon, there was the equivalent …

John Coltrane-1963: New Directions-Vinyl. Label: Impulse! As 1963 dawned, John Coltrane was at the peak of his powers and was already regarded as one of the greatest tenor saxophonists of his generation. However, the previous year 1962, had been somewhat disappointing by his high standards. Neither of the two albums he released in 1962, Ballads …

The Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Associated Ensembles. Label: ECM Records. As 2018, dawned, the pioneering avant-garde jazz group the Art Ensemble of Chicago were preparing to celebrate fifty years making ambitious and innovative music. This includes the five Art Ensemble Of Chicago albums that features on The Art Ensemble Of Chicago and Associated Ensembles, …

Idris Ackamoor and The Pyramids-An Angel Fell-Vinyl. Label: Strut. Bruce Baker in was born in 1951, and grew up in Chicago, before moving to Ohio, where he studied at Antioch College, which was where he first encountered jazz pianist Cecil Taylor and became part of his Black Music Ensemble. Cecil Taylor also mentored Idris Ackamoor, …

Soul Of A Nation: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The Preacher. Label: Soul Jazz Records. Release Date: ‘23rd’ November 2018. Just fifteen months after the release of their critically acclaimed compilation Soul Of A Nation, Soul Jazz Records will release the much-anticipated followup Soul Of A Nation: Jazz Is The Teacher, Funk Is The …

John Coltrane-1963: New Directions. Label: Impulse! As 1963 dawned, John Coltrane was at the peak of his powers and was already regarded as one of the greatest tenor saxophonists of his generation. However, the previous year 1962, had been somewhat disappointing by his high standards. Neither of the two albums he released in 1962, Ballads …